The German political parties presented their plans for income tax rates and taxation of capital income in the run up to the parliamentary election. While the government parties are proposing tax breaks for the medium and higher income brackets by reducing the effects of bracket creep, the opposition parties want to raise the tax rates for higher earners. Proposals by the SPD (Germany's Social Democratic Party) and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (the Green Party) could generate up to eight billion euros in tax revenues per year, but adjustments by taxpayers could reduce the volume noticeably. In contrast, the German government's planned reduction of bracket creep is likely to cost around four billion euros. The broad tax relief planned for the middle class by Die Linke (The Left Party) would lead to a fall in tax revenues of more than 20 billion euros, despite a large increase proposed for the top rate of tax. Tax breaks in the lower income bracket and an increase in taxes for higher incomes and on capital gains would lead to more progressive taxation and thus to a slight redistribution from high earners to low earners. The proposals examined here for income tax rates and capital gains tax made by the opposition parties would only create an appreciable, additional burden for households in the top five percent income bracket.